Do you need a redesign or just a UI/UX refresh? Learn the difference.

Redesigns can seem like a hail mary to an app that’s struggling for unclear reasons. The older the app, the bigger the illusion that just improving aesthetics will increase sales and get you new customers.

But are full redesigns always the best solution? Think about it - what are you even trying to fix? And why?

When trying to upgrade your app’s UI/UX, you have to find what’s wrong with it first. What’s not clicking (literally)? Why are customers dropping in the middle of key processes? Why do you get so many customer service requests? What makes people unhappy with your software?

Once you take the time to understand your app’s current issues and the wants & needs of your customers, you might realize a redesign isn’t what you need - but just a UI/UX refresh.

So in this article, we’re going to talk about what a redesign and UI/UX refresh mean, what sets them apart and how to decide which one you need.

What is a redesign in software?

Let’s start with the basics. What even is a redesign? Well, when you redesign a piece of software, it’s not like demolishing a house and starting from scratch. If your app works (albeit with minor user flow issues), e redesign will only handle aesthetics. It’s like rebuilding a house using the same floor plan or blueprint.

You can also think of it like renovations. You’re fixing faulty wires, repainting, replacing old furniture and improving decorations whilst keeping your walls, windows and layout intact.

In software, redesigns might cover your color scheme, font, page layout, navigation, and overall style & concept. All while keeping the app’s functionality and user flows (unless those need fixing as well).

Here are a few reasons why you’d need a redesign:

• Your app’s look and feel is clearly outdated. Old software will, without a doubt, go out of style eventually. Take a look at Windows 7 now - we thought it was pretty when it came out, but do we like it the same now? Do our children like it?
• Your competition has a better UI. Some people might choose similar apps that look nicer. They appear modern and more up to date, not just visually, but to customers they might appear more up to date in terms of functionality as well.
• You want to reposition yourself among potential customers. Going from an outdated design to a stylish, modern one can help attract younger customers.
• It’ll give you the opportunity to improve your frontend. An outdated design isn’t just an aesthetic issue - in software, this can mean old, outdated frontend code.

The best approach is to sit down with your team and figure out what kind of benefits a redesign could get you, and thus if it’s worth pursuing it. And let’s not forget your users - if you change the look of your app too drastically and too soon, you might scare them off.

Example of a redesign we did for a client in 2024.

Before jumping into a redesign, it’s important to talk to your users and figure out what they like and don’t like about your software. This can give you ideas and can also deter you from spending thousands on an unnecessary redesign.

There are levels to the kinds of redesigns you can do. Here are some general examples:

• Full-on, redoing everything, redesigns. These are redesigns where you might stick to your branding but otherwise change your app’s entire UI. The only thing that remains is the core features.
• Branding changes. You might decide, after many years, to switch up your app or company’s branding. Maybe it’s a different color palette, fonts, iconography or all. This means going through your design and adapting it to the new branding.
• Just making it look better. You might just wish for your app to look nicer, so you’d keep your existing page structure but with different styles. This works best if the only complaint your app gets is its aesthetics.

What is a UI/UX refresh?

As opposed to a redesign, refreshing your UI/UX means keeping your current aesthetic (your color palette, fonts, iconography, overall style) but improving bits of it that aren’t working so well anymore.

There are 2 sides to a UI/UX refresh (which can come together depending on the needs of your app):

• Improvements to your user interface. Adding more padding between elements, creating more white space, improving contrast rates between elements, or just re-ordering and re-organizing content in a more efficient way are just a few upgrades you can make to your UI that will improve the overall experience users have in your software.
• Improvements to your user flows. If a lot of your customers complain that they struggle with key parts of your app, you might need to re-do some user flows. You might split a lengthy process into steps, make sections collapsible, create wizards for setups, or add useful shortcuts.

A UI/UX refresh is a quicker way to improve the look and feel of your software. It works best when users are generally happy with it, but they keep giving you improvement requests. It’s also a good idea to pursue when you’ve added a lot of new features but didn’t look at how they integrate with existing ones.

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/26670924-MindfulMe-Mental-Health-Companion-App-Colase

Compared to a redesign, a UI/UX refresh is a lower commitment way to improve your app. Complete redesigns take time - to come up with a new look, to approve said look with app stakeholders, to design the entire app in that new concept, and to code everything. Such a redesign can take several months, while smaller improvements can be done in weeks.

Here are a few caveats to consider when doing a UI/UX refresh:

• The state of your design files (or the lack thereof). If your app was created many, many years ago, with no viable design file a UI/UX designer could use to work on, then you’re in for a treat. Designers will have to recreate your screens from scratch, which takes additional time.
• Whether or not you have a design system. Having a design system that outlines what most app components look like can be a major time saver. Otherwise, the designers you hire will have to take the time to go through your app (or its design files) and map out what buttons, fields, tables or other elements usually look like within your app.
• User needs and wants. There’s no point in jumping into redoing your UI/UX if you don’t know what your users need or want. They could be happy with your app as is, or they could be unhappy about very specific things - it’s best to ask and find out.

How much should you redesign?

Whether you do a full redesign or just improve your UI/UX largely depends on the state of your app and the needs of your users.

You’d need a bigger redesign if:

• You’re losing customers to competitors who offer less features than you, but they look more modern and fresh. This might mean your aesthetics are pushing customers away, not your functionality.

• Your app was built a very long time ago. Setting aside aesthetics, older software comes with older code - and it could be lacking in security, convoluted, or creating bugs.

• Users are actively struggling with your software. In such cases, your app might need a proper UX overhaul to improve user flows and to make it more seamless to use. In this case, you’d be doing a UX redesign as opposed to a visual-based one.

• You have a bigger budget. A full redesign is more expensive than just improving your UI/UX. The less money you have, the less of a redesign you can do.

A good way to determine which of these options suits you is to sit down with your users and gauge their opinions. Without actually talking to them, you’re just guessing and trying to read their minds, and that’s so inefficient - you could miss out on crucial needs that you can fix with your software.

Doing user research before jumping into a redesign or UI/UX refresh is a great way to figure out which of these two options suit you and why. Plus, you get to figure out exactly what parts of your app you should work on.

Here’s how to do user research to find out how users feel about your app at the moment:

• Hold focus groups. Gather 5-6 of your app users and ask them how they feel about your app’s features, show them new features you’re proposing and gauge their opinions.

• Send surveys to your users. This is a great way to get feedback, and you can even offer incentives - such as discounts - to users who fill the surveys.
• Read your reviews. If your app is on any kind of app store, chances are you’re getting reviews. Reading and paying attention to this feedback is essential: reviews often contain bug reports.

Through such methods, you can gauge public opinion and adapt your app to their current needs. More so if it took you several years to launch your software, and all your user research was done way before you started coding. It’s no surprise if that research goes out of date.

Once you gather data, you can make a better informed decision on which of these 2 options suits your software better. If users are overall satisfied with your software but want upgrades and improvements, you don’t need to do a full redesign. But if everyone is calling it ugly, the answer is pretty clear.

All in all, whether you do an entire redesign or just upgrade your UI/UX depends on both your business and customer needs. If your business is faltering and customers are unhappy, you clearly need to do something. To which extent depends on exactly what issues customers have, and your own resources.

We can help you determine the state of your app’s UI/UX, make suggestions and then build those for you. Book a meeting with us and get a free UI/UX assessment worth $3K.

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